Hi,
I just bought a Honda Civic Del Sol S with a 1.5L 4 cyl engine, manual transmission.
It apparently has power steering too and for much of it I believe it but when it is at slow speeds it is very heavy to move it.
Someone suggested that it might be power assist in the Del Sols not Power Steering. Since the last owner did not have the manual, I was wondering if the Honda Del Sols which are suppose to have power steering actually had power steering or power assist?
If it is tough to move the car into a full circle with the steering wheel could it mean that the power steering fluid is low? But with a quick over check of the engine area I couldnt find the power steering fluid pump. Any suggestions why the steering wheel might be tough to move besides maybe it just doesn't have power steering?
Cheers

 

If you provide a photo of the engine bay, it will be easy to tell whether or not the car is equipped with power steering. Just look for the pump and reservoir.

 

yeah a picuture of the egine way would help alot so we can see if it is there or not. but if you cannot find the reservoir then most likely it is power assist.

 

I will take a picture when I go home from work and post it. I have looked for the power steering reservoir and not been able to find it. There is a reservoir right in front of the of the steering wheel area but it says something like DO2 or DO3 brake fluid even though there is another small reservoir on the side for brake fluid.

 

it will be right behind the drivers side headlight. A light grey, cylinder shaped, plasic reservior, with a red cap on it. Like this

 

hmm.



Modified by goldenmac at 10:03 PM 4/13/2007

 

Nope - no power steering there.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Padawan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Nope - no power steering there. </TD></TR></TABLE>

x2

be thankful

 

be thankful? u dont like power steering? or is it not preferred on del sols?

i suppose the car has power assist?
at least i live in california and dont have to deal with snow conditions ..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by goldenmac &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">be thankful? u dont like power steering? or is it not preferred on del sols?

i suppose the car has power assist?
at least i live in california and dont have to deal with snow conditions ..</TD></TR></TABLE>

The car doesn't have power anything, it's a standard manual steering rack - no bells and whistles.

Personally I feel it's not too bad because it's a civic...and they're usually harder to tell the difference on due to their light weight. Adding it is way too much of a hastle if you ask me. Whichever, those pictures are of an engine that doesn't have power anything when it comes to steering.

 

my close friends sister drove a del sol for years, no power steering...she had to weigh every bit of 100lbs if she was lucky.

she never whined once about it either..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by goldenmac &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hmm.
these are the pictures..
http://www.mehershad.com/download/car/

all the photos are there.. what do ya'll think?</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you're wondering about the other two reserviors you took close up pics of. They are brake master cylinder (big one) and clutch master cylinder (little one). Make sure you have nice, clean fluid in both and they're between the "min" and "max" lines.

Having no PS in a Del Sol is no big deal. Many people swap from PS to manual steering anyway.

 

My EJ6 doesn't have PS, and it's not a big deal on the road. In parking lots it's annoying at first, but I got used to it (and built some deltoids too). It's also kind of nice not having many parasitic power losses (aside from A/C)

 

yea. its not bad at all. i didnt even realize it at first.. thought either the power steering fluid is low or it has power assist. only when at a complete stop it is tough to move it. but as rniederlando said, I can build up some deltoids

 

what is the advantage of having high quality clean fluid in those reservoirs? does it make ps easier or they are totally independent and have nothing to do with steering conditions?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by goldenmac &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yea. its not bad at all. i didnt even realize it at first.. thought either the power steering fluid is low or it has power assist. only when at a complete stop it is tough to move it. but as rniederlando said, I can build up some deltoids </TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by goldenmac &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what is the advantage of having high quality clean fluid in those reservoirs? does it make ps easier or they are totally independent and have nothing to do with steering condition</TD></TR></TABLE>

You still seem a bit confused. As stated above, your car has no power steering and no power "assist" It is purely manual. The other reservoirs you see in your photos are for the clutch and brakes.

 

Nah, I wasn't confused once you guys clarified it. I was just asking in a convoluted manner if those other things in any other subtle manner would make steering a wheel more comfortable? but i guess not

 

The only del sols without ps were infact the S model with the manual tranny.

 

oh well its not bad honestly.

 

Look at the brightside, it's better to not have it at all than to have it and it not be working right. My mom had this old azz carbed 4 cyl POS Jeep Cherokee w/ PS at first...but then it started dying, so you'd be making a smooth turn with one hand then it'd just cut out and you'd almost go off the road :-P.

Then it'd be expensive to fix and still cost some money just to convert it to a manual steering rack, even if you get it from a junkyard.

IMO having PS is a luxury item, on civics it doesn't make a difference IMO because A) The PS in civics/del sols sucks and B) they're lighter than **** so it's not that hard. I wouldn't mind not having it in my Ex - Less **** you have, less **** that can go wrong .

 

power assist? wat does that consist of?

 

i agree. thats one of the advantages of having a manual manual car :D
except for power windows and ac everything in it is just basic manual. so less items to break down

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by goldenmac &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i agree. thats one of the advantages of having a manual manual car :D
except for power windows and ac everything in it is just basic manual. so less items to break down </TD></TR></TABLE>

to you, and kudos as well.

Although I like manual windows in a civic better, when you're talking 92-95 the actuators are old and slow . My windows move up slow as expletive. Almost makes me wanna do an automatic &gt;&gt; manual window conversion (and yes I'm serious, though I don't wanna spend the money for a lesser option so I'm not going to do it yet). I don't have AC, which is good in the respect that would slow my already rediculously slow car down even more. Though I have been suffering throughout the summer :-P.

 

i prefer the ac - use it when needed otherwise it doesnt affect the speed
but yea, the drivers window is so slow in going up. i dont know how to increase the speed of it :D

 

Word. People have told me to grease the armature track and it'll be fine but I greased it...then greased it some more...then greased it a lot. It may ahve helped a bit, but it didn't really do anything in the long and short of things. I think the motor's just weak because it's 11 years old. So my two options would be replacement (too much money) or auto to manual window conversion (too much money) - too much apathy to do either one, maybe some time down the road I'll do something about it, but for now, I don't feel it's worth dropping any money into.